5 million U.S. households bid TV goodbye

newarkhiphop

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.

A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.


Among this elusive group of consumers is Jeremy Carsen Young, a graphic designer, who is done with traditional TV. Young has a working antenna sitting unplugged on his back porch in Roanoke, Virginia, and he refuses to put it on the roof.

"I don't think we'd use it enough to justify having a big eyesore on the house," the 30-year-old says.

Online video subscriptions from Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. — which cost less than $15 a month combined — have given him and his partner plenty to watch. They take in back episodes of AMC's The Walking Dead and The CW's Supernatural, and they don't need more, he says.

He doesn't mind waiting as long as a year for the current season's episodes to appear on streaming services, even if his friends accidently blurt out spoilers in the meantime. With regular television, he might have missed the latest developments, anyway.

"By the time it gets to me to watch, I've kind of forgotten about that," he says.


Last year, the cable, satellite and telecoms providers added just 46,000 video customers collectively, according to research firm SNL Kagan. That's tiny when compared to the 974,000 new households created last year. While it's still 100.4 million homes, or 84.7% of all households, it's down from the peak of 87.3% in early 2010.

Nielsen's study suggests that this new group may have left traditional TV for good. While three-quarters actually have a physical TV set, only 18 percent are interested in hooking it up through a traditional pay TV subscription.

Zero TVers tend to be younger, single and without children. Turrill says part of the new monitoring regime is meant to help determine whether they'll change their behavior over time. "As these homes change life stage, what will happen to them?"

Cynthia Phelps, a 43-year-old maker of mental health apps in San Antonio, Texas, says there's nothing that will bring her back to traditional TV. She's watched TV in the past, of course, but for most of the last 10 years she's done without it.

She finds a lot of programs online to watch on her laptop for free — like the TED talks educational series — and every few months she gets together with friends to watch older TV shows on DVD, usually "something totally geeky," like NBC's Chuck.

The 24-hour news channels make her anxious or depressed, and buzz about the latest hot TV shows like "Mad Men" doesn't make her feel like she's missing out. She didn't know who the Kardashian family was until she looked them up a few years ago.

"I feel absolutely no social pressure to keep up with the Joneses in that respect," she says.


No TV? 5 million U.S. households bid boob tube goodbye


:fidel: DD-unit

For those interested in going cable less check out these threads:

http://www.the-coli.com/arcadium/9533-navi-x-cable-tv-netflix.html#.UWHmUpPvuAk

http://www.the-coli.com/arcadium/35330-official-htpc-thread.html#.UWHmQZPvuAk

http://www.the-coli.com/arcadium/15321-who-else-got-roku.html#.UWHmk5PvuAk

http://www.the-coli.com/arcadium/51904-official-n3wsgr0up$-tutorial-thread.html#.UWHmT5PvuAk
 

MikelArteta

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cancelled cable like a year ago

surviving just fine with netflix, streaming websites
 

Slystallion

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Hmmm

The fact that i'd have to wait for hbo shows to hit blu ray or if they sell them anywhere else i doubt would be a deal breaker for me
 

⠀⠀⠀

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if you live alone and don't have cable and your parents got cable at their home......


that means you can get comcast xfinitytv, time warner cable tv, all the channels through your computer for free. (whatever cable service) i got all the regular channels. plus premium channels and apps like hbo go, showtime, everything for free through my computer. i don't even live with them



i advise some of you to make an free online account for your parents cable provider. you get everything free and don't even live with them :win:
 

BIGDENNIS10UK

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I haven't got satellite/cable TV, only thing id ever need it for is live sport, but I just stream it live.

I like the documentaries on sky TV, but I don't need to subscribe for that, just watch docs on youtube as and when.

The model of having to watch TV to schedule is outdated anyway, you can just catch it online or various other outlets whenever you feel like it.
 

The Phoenix

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I turned my cable off 2 years ago and havent looked back.

I'm a sports fan, so cable/satellite TV is a must for me.
I stream all my sports off the internet. Streaming Lakers v Clippers as we speak. Yeah thats on ABC but still.....it doesn't matter what its on I can stream it.
 

DCMC

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If it wasn't for sports (NBATV, NFL network, ESPN) I'd cancel cable too since I download all the tv shows I watch.
 

Slystallion

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Or just download them and watch them on your media player in your own time :win:

probably not the same quality and i have to search and risk getting in trouble for stealing content.

if all shows were available on itunes and available within a reasonable time including hbo then i'd just get an antennae and watch the shows i wanted to by buying the episodes

but thats if i was hard pressed for money at some point its just convenience to flip on to whatever you want to watch

but i understand its possible to turn off tv get your news from the internet and find the tv shows you like to watch

i just don't like the idea of not keeping up with a preferred show live and be at risk for spoilers not to mention sports events who really wants to deal with streams of sports and it going out

i like having quality and nothing say's i'm a broke bum to a date then not having some sort of cable sattelite fios set up and we have to go on a mission to watch the knicks game on tv
 
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